Chapter Text
Vinicius was fuming with anger, he was not mad about the loss, they had lost before with a worse margin but what had him so mad was the fact he’d let a kid get the worst of him. Pablo Gavi had gotten inside his head the whole match, and it didn’t help that Araujo didn’t let him breath either, it had been such a horrible defeat.
“Let’s go, Vini.” Luka said while patting his shoulder and heading out the door. All his teammates were leaving one by one with the weight of defeat heavy on their shoulders. Vinicius wanted to see Pablo Gavi face to face and demand an apology for the way he had insulted him on the pitch. He got up from the bench grabbed his bag and walked to the opposite side of the hallway where the visitors’ dressing rooms were. He stood there in front of the door, he was debating whether to knock or just burst inside, but he didn’t get to choose since one of their players opened the door. Jules Kounde was standing in front of him with a confused face but seconds later he smiled.
“Hey.” He greeted him, he was probably heading out and Vinicius was only hoping that Pablo was still in the dressing room.
“Where’s the little bitch?” Vinicius asked, he didn’t want to be rude to the defender, he had not disrespected him at all, but he was too mad to care about anything.
“Hey, calm down, you don’t have to do this.” Jules said lowering his voice and pushing him to close the door behind them as a way of shielding him from his teammates’ view.
“Come on, we’re not on the pitch anymore, let him come, or does he not have the balls?” Vinicius said loud enough to get the attention of the players inside the dressing room and trying to get in but Jules prevented him from doing so by blocking his way in.
“What are you even trying to achieve anyways?” Jules asked pushing him a little harsher.
“He should apologize, he insulted me on the pitch.” Vinicius retorted and looked over Jules’ shoulders noticing the door opened again, Sergio Busquets was standing there looking at him with a disappointing look.
“Vini, please.” Sergio Busquets said walking towards him to put a hand on his shoulder, it was supposed to calm him down but it did the opposite and Vinicius just slapped Sergio’s hand away, he felt guilty, he respected Sergio and he knew he was being unfair to him, he was just trying to deescalate the situation. “You can still get in trouble if any of the staff sees you here making a scene.” Sergio said.
“What is it that you want?” Pablo appeared behind Sergio and Jules, he had that smug face and Vinicius had never wanted to punch someone so badly, but this was a teenager and he could get in so much trouble. Jules tightened his hold on him to prevent him from walking towards the younger boy.
“A fucking apology, I get that you’re just a kid but you shouldn’t disrespect your opponents on the pitch like that.” Vinicius said and Pablo just laughed while two of his teammates were holding him by his arms, but that mocking laugh made Vinicius’ blood boil, and he just wanted to wiped that grin off his face.
“Is that why you’re making a scene? Fucking childish.” Pablo said and Sergio turned around and walked back towards the teenager.
“Gavi stop, apologize and get it over with.” Busquets said with a firm tone even Vinicius felt chills under his skin, like the older man was talking to him.
“Alright, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” Pablo said but it was obvious he didn’t mean it at all, his side grin was evidence, he was looking straight at Vinicius as if trying to get inside his head, and he was doing so well.
“You don’t mean that.” Vinicius said.
“What else do you want? Want me to write it down? Get on my knees? Grow up man, this is football, you need to let it go.” Pablo said pushing his teammates and freeing himself from their hold just to walk back inside the dressing room.
“You’re his captain, you should keep your players in check, specially moody children like him.” Vinicius said to Sergio while pushing Jules aside who was still holding him and leaving the scene feeling worse than before. He felt humiliated because he thought the younger would be more mature and just apologize like every other football player did whenever they were a little too harsh with him on the pitch, even Pablo’s own teammate Ronald Araujo had always respected him even when they had faced each other one on one on the pitch. Vinicius knew he had become a winger that defenders will never go easy on, and he had made peace with that, but when it came to Pablo Gavi, there was too much anger build up inside him, he could not control it, why did he even go and demand an apology in the first place? He shouldn’t have even bother with Pablo, after all he still had the mentality of a five year old even though he was eighteen.
“Where were you?” Dani Carvajal asked when he saw him heading towards his car in the parking lot.
“Making a fool of myself.” He answered.
“What happened?” The older asked walking next to him.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Vinicius replied getting inside his car.
“Hey it wasn’t a bad loss, we can still comeback and plus they didn’t even score.” Dani said in a last attempt to make the younger feel better, but it was of no use, Vinicius just wanted to get home and sleep, that way he could stop thinking about Pablo Gavi and how much he wanted to punch the guy.
Vinicius was getting more distracted during training, they were three days away from visiting the Camp Nou again and he was anxious about the match, they had won the first leg match against Barcelona but somehow had fallen behind them on the table, and by a big difference. The whole team knew they had to win this match in order to get back on the tittle race, coming out in second place was not what was planned, they knew they had to go for all three trophies this season.
“What is it?” Rodrygo asked him looking at him tentatively from where he was sitting on the other side of the sofa.
“I can’t stand that kid, every time we have to play against them, I just know he’s going to get on my nerves.” Vinicius said still looking at the video they were asked to watch in order to prepare for the second leg of El Clásico.
“He should be the least of your worries right now.” Rodrygo said taking a sip of his water.
“We should be worry about all of them, if you haven’t notice they all defend.” Vinicius leaned in to grab his phone from the coffee table.
“They all defend but we are the best club in the world.” Rodrygo said. “And also, if there is one person you need to be worry about that should be Araujo.” He finished and Rodrygo was right, there was no reason for Vinicius to worry about a midfielder who’s only talent was to foul his opponent’s and put on an innocent face to get away with it.
Later that evening Vinicius went to bed thinking about facing Barcelona, there was always that feeling of excitement when playing Barcelona, no matter if it was an important game or just a friendly, the feeling was the same because it was Barcelona. They could face the biggest club in Europe and their hands would be steady as a rock, they could be European champions thousands of time, but when it came to Barcelona everything seemed to shrink, their tittles didn’t seem important anymore and they didn’t feel like they were the only big team on the pitch. It was a match that stopped football world and in those ninety minutes it was just them twenty two players on the pitch, it was too much sometimes, to the point where at least one player would lose their cool, and sometimes it was himself, but he knew maybe it wasn’t just because it was Barcelona, he liked Barcelona, yes it was their rivals but it was like the two teams needed each other and they made each other a better club. Vinicius liked Barcelona, it was the club he wanted to destroy every time they had to play them, it was the club that gave him the most joy every time they won against them, but this time there was more than just Barcelona, more than just stripes of blues and reds that were keeping his mind busy, it wasn’t just that crest, it was actually a pair of light brown eyes and an insufferable smirk, making him feel like a kid, not like one of the best wingers in the world but a fucking child, that’s how he felt every time he saw Pablo Gavi looking back at him with a smug grin. Pablo had insulted him and then he had laughed at him, he was just a teenager and maybe stubborn but he couldn’t stop himself from hating the guy, he just couldn’t stop thinking of ways he could get his revenge, but the best way he could come up with is taking those three points away from Pablo’s beloved club so he could see Pablo suffer and then it would be his turn to laugh.
Laying on his bed ready to sleep he reached for his cellphone on the night stand next to his bed, he opened Instagram and searched for Pablo Gavi’s username, as soon as he opened his page he was met with blaugrana colors, the boy was Barcelona. There were quite a few Barcelona players that screamed Barcelona by just looking at them, and Pablo Gavi was one of them, those kids were lucky, starting from their academy to the first team and later become club legends, that was what every club envied of them. They weren’t Ajax or Benfica, no, they were Barcelona, where their legends are baked in their famous farm, and the club gets to keep them, because there is no other club they would wish to play for other than their beloved Barcelona, and Vinicius liked Barcelona and some of their players but those privileged kids that grew up with their shiny boots and clean kits in the famous city of Spain, he hated them, those kids could not have grown bigger egos because it would be impossible to fit in the Camp Nou and the Camp Nou wasn’t small at all; Pablo Gavi was one of them.
He didn’t realized he had spend almost thirty minutes scrolling through Pablo’s Instagram, looking at his comments, and the pictures with his teammates and he didn’t even know why he even looked up his page in the first place. Vinicius drop his phone next to him on the bed to put his hands on his face, he could not keep letting a teenager get to his head, not when he was supposed to be sleeping and getting some rest, instead he was scrolling through his Instagram page, he knew there must be something wrong with him and he needed to fix it.
They lost again, Vinicius felt awful, they failed to shorten the gap, they were supposed to win that match, they were supposed to prove they were still contenders for that league tittle, that Barcelona wasn’t alone in the race. The team fell silent in the dressing rooms, no one dared to say anything, they were disappointed with themselves and some had left the room earlier. Vinicius and Rodrygo were few of the first to leave the dressing room, they were walking together towards their bus when Vinicius noticed a Barcelona player at the end of the hallway walking towards them, the unmistakeable blue and red colors getting closer to them as they also walked towards him, it was Pablo Gavi. Rodrygo and Vinicius stopped walking towards the boy as soon as they realized who it was, but Pablo kept getting closer to them.
“Good game.” Pablo said when he was just a few feet away from them and smiling brightly with all his front teeth on display.
“Well of course you would say that, referee was playing for y’all.” Rodrygo retorted.
“Calm down, I come in peace.” Pablo said smiling softly, it almost fools Vinicius, almost makes him believe the boy really had genuine intentions. “Listen what happened last time, I really didn’t meant to offend you, I’m sorry for mentioning your mother, I know that was not cool.”
The apology felt sincere and it really took him by surprise, he didn’t expect the younger to have a little decency. “Thank you.” Vinicius said but he didn’t offer a smile at all, instead he just stared at him.
“My commiserations, but you know someone’s gotta take that second place.” Pablo said to later show his stupid grin on his face, and there it was.
Vinicius felt like he just wanted to punch the guy, he was upset, way too angry and didn’t think about the consequences, he just grabbed the younger by the collar of his blaugrana shirt and harshly pushed him towards the wall making him hiss in pain as soon as his back made contact with the wall. “You talk too much crap, someone needs to put you in your place.” Vinicius said gripping his shirt tighter.
“What? are you gonna do it?” Pablo asked while raising himself on his tiptoes to loosen his grip, even though his cheeks were pink from Vinicius’ hold his grin was not erased from his face.
“Give your mouth a break and shut up for once, would you?” Vinicius said but let him go and pushed him hard making Pablo stumble a little.
“No, you shut it, you act all tough but then go cry to the referee, like a fucking baby.” Pablo straightened himself while trying to push Vinicius back but Rodrygo stopped him.
Rodrygo put two hands on his chest and gently pushed him farther away from Vinicius “Gavi cut it out, seriously why do you keep acting so damn childish, your team won, why aren’t you celebrating with them?” Rodrygo said.
“Gavi!” They turned around to find Pedri and Ansu running towards them. Great, just what they needed, more Barcelona players.
“Vini, let’s go.” Rodrygo said grabbing his arm.
“You got lucky today, this is not over yet.” Vinicius said while pointing his finger at him, which only caused the younger to roll his eyes, but Vinicius ignored him and turned around to walk away, they didn’t want any more people to find out about their interactions, both could get a ban and Vinicius definitely didn’t want to miss a few matches because of a teenager and his anger issues.
“When and where? Let’s finish it up! Why wait!” Pablo yelled and that’s when he turned back around to face him one last time, his teammates were already next to him and holding him back while scolding him.
“Don’t provoke me, desire to bust your nose I have plenty.” Vinicius said while trying to walk back towards the Barcelona players but Rodrygo tightened his hold to stop him from moving any closer to them.
“Come on then! What’s stopping you?” The younger kept taunting while trying his best to release himself from his teammates’ hold, Vinicius found the whole thing amusing and showed it on his face, not even his own teammates could deal with him.
“Come on, Vini. That guy’s not even worth it.” His teammate said, they both walked to the team bus without mentioning to anyone about their altercation with the youngest Barcelona player, hoping their rivals wouldn’t say anything either, both teams could get in big trouble and surely the three Barcelona players just like the two of them knew better than to say anything.
Vinicius found himself once again laying on his bed staring at the ceiling with his cellphone on his hand, debating into doing something stupid or just going to sleep. They were going to face Barcelona again, football fans were having a feast with so many El Clasicos in less than two months. Vinicius had asked Raphinha for Pablo Gavi’s phone number, the other Brazilian wasn’t so sure about it, Vinicius had promised him it wasn’t for anything bad, he just wanted to make amends before the second leg of Copa Del Rey, but in all honesty Vinicius himself didn’t understand why he had asked for the teenagers contact number, he really didn’t have anything to say to him other than letting him know how insufferable he was, but that would just make him look childish, like he is falling into Pablo’s stupid games, but he did it anyways, he sat up on his bed and dialed Pablo’s phone number. It ringed for a few seconds before he heard a soft voice.
“Hello.”
“It’s Vinicius.” Vinicius said clearing his throat.
“No shit, been waiting for you to call me, Rafi told me you asked for my number and I told him to give it to you.” Pablo said with a mocking tone.
Vinicius wanted to hang up and forget he even tried contacting the younger, he was once again making a fool of himself, he was doing that way too often, in front of Pablo Gavi, his rival, and he was also occupying a big portion of his time, always thinking about Pablo and wanting to destroy Barcelona just so he could see Pablo sad, just so he could laugh in his face.
“What do you want, Vini?” He had not realized he hadn’t said anything for a few seconds, Pablo’s voice brought him back. He had said his name with a softer tone, and Vinicius couldn’t help but ignore the feeling in his stomach.
“Warn you, I’m not gonna go easy on you, no one in the team is.”
“Aw so cute, you’re now giving me a heads up, that’s so thoughtful of you. Don’t worry, I’ll be alright, it’s just Real Madrid.” The younger said, high pitch voice and clearly mocking him and his team.
“When do you plan on growing up?” Vinicius ask rolling his eyes, this guy was so immature.
“You’re the one who acts like a fucking child, Vini.” Vinicius felt something in his stomach again at his rival’s words.
“You’re the one that makes me so damn angry, Gavi.” He said with the same tone. “It hurts you, don’t it? That you’re club will never be as good as Madrid.” He finished and waited a few seconds for the younger to say something.
“Barcelona is so much better than your stupid club.” Pablo said.
“Keep dreaming one day your beloved club will be better than Real Madrid.” Vinicius rested his back on the backrest of his bed.
“Yes, I would be dreaming but you’re calling me at fucking midnight.” Pablo said with obvious annoyance, and Vinicius wanted to tell him off, let everything out and tell him how Barcelona was broken and would never see their golden days ever again, that his boyhood club was finish and there was nothing he could do to save it, nothing he could do to put it back together, that Messi was never coming back and that Barcelona was nothing without their GOAT, but Vinicius wasn’t that evil, even though he knew for those Barcelona academy players, insulting their club was like stabbing their mothers. “Vini, what is it?” He heard the boy say, with a hint of curiosity this time. “Why did you call?”
“I hate you, and I will make sure you swallow all your words.” Vinicius said.
“Don’t think about it too much, sleep well.” Pablo said and hang up, because he couldn’t see his facial expressions and because he said it with a neutral tone Vinicius wasn’t sure if the other guy was actually mocking him or actually wishing him a good rest. He closed his eyes with his phone still close to his ear, he took a deep breath and his chest felt heavy, it was so wrong, what he was feeling was so wrong.